Wrap it Up Gift Wrap Ideas

Gift Wrap Ideas with Yarn

Over the years, I’ve used various items to wrap or decorate gifts to make them stand out with extra texture and sometimes silliness.

Gift wrap, like almost everything else, goes up in price every year- if you want the pretty ones, and we all know we want the pretty ones. We want our gifts to stand out. We get solid colored paper with a little shimmer and it’s really difficult to find the perfect ribbon or bow.

Frankly, I got tired of it and started looking for alternatives. As I was thinking of my list for Christmas purchases, I decided to clean up an area in my craft space for a little tree. Lo and behold, there was my little stash of bits and pieces of yarn spilling out of a basket. They were partial skeins and I started to think crazy. What if I just braided this one into my hair… or could I just put this on the wall somehow… wait a minute!

It was done. That was when I just knew I would wrap with them. So, now you can use up those last few yards you weren’t sure what to do with, but you couldn’t bare to toss away.

Get crafty! Make some braids, add some pony bead dangles. Have fun with it.

This is really quite simple as you get going. On your first wrap around, you should wrap directly over the starting end and leave that as a 4″ tail hanging out. You will still have to pinch it or hold it down with a finger so it doesn’t slide around or you may tape it and wrap over the tape. Once you finish wrapping, you can decide whether you will want to tie the ends together, tuck them, or glue them down.

When you go around the second time, lay the yarn down as close to the first wrap as possible. With each wrap around, you will lay it right down next to the previous wrap. I like to start with 6 wraps around for a solid foundation, but that is not necessary.

Note: Make sure not to pull the yarn taught; just snug against the gift.

Once you are ready to change directions and wrap across the first section, hold about an inch of extra yarn in the back to lay your next wrap over. This anchors it down a little. Turn your gift clockwise or counterclockwise and line up your wrap where you want it. Each time you switch directions, whether you will wrap vertically or horizontally, you will hold that little bit of extra yarn in the back and wrap over it.